Excellent, a Must See

everything you have heard about this movie is true.

Absolutely the worst movie.

It's a good bad... and worth a popcorn matinée. While it's easy to lament what could have been...

After reading so many somewhat negative reviews I hesitated even watching this film - but then, it's actually a wonderful movie. Great actors and great script too. I guess what so many people don't like is that it's not a 'plot movie' - there's none of this 'overcoming obstacles' and stuff - I for one am glad! It's slow and thoughtful. Highly recommended!

I watched this movie because it billed itself as a "mystery". The only mystery is how anyone could find it entertaining. It was about as enticing as a toenail clipping. I agree with other reviews in that this movie featured very bland and self absorbed characters, not the least of which was the female lead. Also, talk about implausible. The woman doesn't look much over thirty yet she has had all these jobs and experiences, many of which would take years of schooling. Sad and pathetic and yes infuriatingly stupid.

Maybe I was in the mood for it, but I found this little movie intriguing. It's certainly different. I didn't read anything too profound into it; I just think it was an interesting story beautifully played.It seems to have bored some people stiff and the critical response according to Wikipedia was mixed to negative - I guess they weren't in the mood for it.Alice (Rachel Weisz), a woman who disappeared years before, returns and meets her old boyfriend Tom (Michael Shannon). We learn that she has changed identities and occupations many times, acquiring new skills and friends, only to suddenly leave them all behind to adopt a totally new identity. This sort of thing usually has sinister undertones often involving serial killers and people held captive in cellars, but here there is nothing evil at all, only feelings of sadness for a lost relationship and Tom's sense of purposelessness in his life. There are a few more layers to it, and Alice's self indulgent philosophy is questioned. There is one telling sequence when Alice and Tom help an older couple played by Danny Glover and Kathy Bates. Tom is invited into Alice's world of identity changing almost like in theatre sports where the players are given a character and then have to improvise like crazy; it unlocks something repressed in Tom.As Alice's story unfolds I thought of that line in Kurt Vonnegut's "Mother Night" - "You must be careful what you pretend to be, because in the end you are what you pretend to be".The film has a seductive mood aided by an atmospheric score and doesn't outstay its welcome. I won't spoil the ending, but it felt right.I'm glad I didn't read the critics first - "Complete Unknown" was a complete surprise.

Despite its intriguing premise, this film never really makes it. The acting, given the talent brought into it, is excellent, but the script provides nothing good for an audience to take hold of. It doesn't help that the first five minutes are so badly written/edited, you'll have no idea what's going on. The characters are intolerable people. Any other people would have said no to the invite to Tom's birthday party. They're not hateful or bad people, but they're either spineless, pretentious, or selfish, all to a degree that is utterly unlikable. Furthermore, the plot consists of mostly flat dialogue. The few moments when it feels like some real conflict is going to build, it fizzles out before it goes anywhere meaningful. Rachel Weisz does her best with the material, but by the tenth or fifteenth painfully obvious lie, it's infuriating that people believe her and that the people who know she's lying are so willing to shrug it off and continue interacting with her.